Door latch set

ABSTRACT

A molded plastic door latch set comprises two knobs, two sleeves, and a latch assembly, with the knob and sleeve pairs being substantially identical. Only three screws are required to assemble the set and secure it within a door. Rotation of the knobs actuates the latch by winding a flexible portion of the latch around the knob spindle.

United States Patent [191 MacDonald 11] 3,829,137 [451 Aug. 13, 1974 I DOOR LATCH SET [75] Inventor: Robert D. MacDonald, Metamore,

Mich.

[73] Assignee: Cardinal of Adrian, Inc., Adrian,

Mich.

[22] Filed: Feb. 18, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 227,407

52 Us. or. 292/171 [51] Int. Cl. E05c l/l2 [58] Field of Search 292/DIG. 38, 171, 141, 292/337, 359

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 100,661 3/1870 Pfleghar 292/359 284,893 9/1883 Phipps 292/359 460,789 10/1891 Garland 292/359 797,425 8/1905 Haag 292/171 Primary Examiner-James R. Boler Assistant Examiner-Peter Nerbun Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Cullen, Settle, Sloman & Cantor 5 7] ABSTRACT A molded plastic door latch set comprises two knobs, two sleeves, and a latch assembly, with the knob and sleeve pairs being substantially identical. Only three screws are required to assemble the set and secure it within a door. Rotation of the knobs actuates the latch by winding 21 flexible portion of the latch around the knob spindle.

17 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures DOOR LATCH SET BACKGROUND OF INVENTION The purpose of this invention is to provide a door latch set which is substantially less expensive to manufacture and assemble than present commercial latch sets, without sacrifice of any operational features. This objective has been accomplished by the present invention by the elimination of a great number of the parts conventionally found within a latch set and by the use of molded plastic for the majority of the parts.

By using molded plastic rather than the more costly metals, and by substantially reducing the number of elements within the latch sets, the cost of manufacure of the parts has been substantially reduced. Equally significantly, the cost of labor in assemblying the latch set and of securing it within the door has also been substantially reduced.

These advantages will be more readily understood by reference to the following specification and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a plan view in exploded form of the latch set of this inention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the latch set of FIG. I installed within a fragmentarily illustrated door.

FIG. 3 is a plan view, partly in section, through an assembled latch set mounted within a door.

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional elevation viewed in the direction of arrows 4-4 of FIG. 3, and showing the latch set in its normal extended latched position.

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4, but showing the latch in its retracted released position.

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of the latch set of this invention, with one knob being omitted for clarity.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring first to FIG. 1, the latch set of this invention generally comprises a pair of knobs l0, 12, a pair of sleeves 14, 16, a latch assembly 18, a pair of sleeve screws (only one of which is illustrated) and a knob screw 22. Thus, at the time of assembly of the latch set into a door, the workman has only five elements to handle, all of which are assembled to each other and to the door by means of only three screws.

Referring first to latch assembly 18, best understood by reference to FIGS. 4-6, this sub-assembly includes a guide cylinder 24 having an enlarged side and endopening chamber 26 within which is mounted a compression spring 28. The ends of spring 28 bear against inner end wall 30 of chamber 26 and radial flange 32 on latch actuator 34, thus biasing latch actuator outwardly (to the left as shown in FIGS. 4-6) to the extended latching position. A pair of spring locating bosses 36 on end wall 30 normally locate and retain spring 28 and prevent it from slipping out of chamber 26.

The latch 38 itself is formed integrally with the outer or left end of latch actuator 34, and is mounted to slide longitudinally within slot 40 in guide cylinder 24. The intermediate portion of latch actuator 34 is formed as a flexible strap, capable of flexing in one longitudinal plane as shown by comparison of FIGS. 4 and 5. The inner or right end 44 of latch actuator 34 is enlarged for connection with other elements of the latch set, as will be described below, and is provided with a transverse hole 46 through which knob screw 22 passes at the time of assembly. A transverse diametral slot 48 is formed at tne inner end of guide cylinder 24, to permit assembly of latch actuator 34, as will be further described below. It is to be understood that the entire latch member, comprising an actuator 34, latch tip 38 and enlarged inner end 44, is fabricated of a single piece of plastic, preferably molded polypropylene.

Still referring to FIGS. 4-6 in particular, guide cylinder 24 has a pair of transverse slots 50 formed in the top and bottom surface thereof adjacent the inner end. Slots 50 are engaged by portions of wall 52 of sleeves l4, 16 at the time of assembly. The entrance of parts 56 of walls 52 of sleeves l4l6 into slots 50 of cylinder 24 will, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 provide an interlock between the rotor means (10-12-14-16) and the cylinder 24. Since actuator 34 is locked in the cylinder 24, there will arise an interlock between the rotor means and the actuator 34. Also as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the hollow central parts 57 of the sleeve 14 and 16 have longitudinal side slots 57a, as well as bores 58. Side slots 57a provide an interlock with the headed end 44 of actuator 34. These interlocks prevent the latch assembly and particularly the actuator from separating from the rotor means after assembly of the latch assembly and the rotor means in such order. Similarly, a short finger 54 in a cut-out portion 56 of sleeve wall 52 enters each end of slot 48 in guide cylinder 24. The function of these connections will be understood from the explanation below.

As best shown in FIGS. 1 and 6, sleeves 14, 16 are each provided with a longitudinal bore 58 adapted to receive and provide a bearing surface for spindle 60 of knobs I0, 12. Each sleeve 14, 16 has an outer radial flange 62, the outer face of which is provided with a semi-circular arcuate slot 64. Slot. 64 receives a projection 66 on the inner face of the integrally formed escutcheon plate 68 of each knob. The ends of slot 64 thus act as stops for projection 66, to limit the rotation of the knobs to 90 either way from the normal position.

As best shown in FIGS. 1 and 6,. sleeve 14 is provided with a pair of longitudinal clearance holes 70 (only one of which was shown) to receive sleeve screws 20. Similarly, sleeve 16 is provided with a pair of threaded blind holes 72 (one of which is shown in FIG. 1) positioned to align with holes 70 at the time of assembly.

As shown in FIG. 6, sleeve 14 is provided with a privacy lock hole 74 which is normally aligned with tip 76 of a privacy lock member 78 slidably mounted in a slot 80 of knob 10. Knob 10 has a deep clearance hole 82 along its longitudinal axis to receive knob screw 22, while knob 12 has athreaded hole 84 into which screw 22 is received at the time of assembly.

As best shown in FIGS. 4-6, the inner ends of both knob spindles 60 have a transverse slot 86 dimensioned to snugly fit over the enlarged inner end 44 of latch actuator 34.

The inner end of spindle 60 of knob 10 has a pair of longitudinally projecting pins 88, which fit into holes 90 at the inner end of spindle 60 of knob 12 at the time of assembly. These pins function to cause the two knobs to rotate together whenever one of them is turned.

It will be observed that sleeves 14, 16 are substantially identical. One difference is that sleeve 14 has clearance holes 70 for screws 20 while sleeve 16 has blind threaded holes 72. Another difference is that the sleeves are mirror images of each other with respect to the position of cut-out 56 in wall 52.

Similarly, knobs and 12 are substantially identical, the only difference being that one is provided with slot '80 for privacy lock member 78 and with a clearance hole 82 for screw 22 rather than a blind threaded hole 84. It is noteworthy that each of the knobs is a single integrally formed molded plastic part, including a knob portion, a spindle and an escutcheon plate.

ASSEMBLY AND OPERATION The assembly of latch sub-assembly 18 will be described first. It will be noted that transverse slot 48 completely severs the two sides of the inner end of guide cylinder 24. This is essential to permit assembly of latch actuator 34. The first step in assembly is to further spread apart the two halves of guide cylinder 24. Then, latch actuator 34, with spring 28 already on it and compressed to shorten its length, is rocked into chamber 26 from one side, with latch tip 38 being inserted into longitudinal slot 40 of the cylinder. The spreading apart of slot 48 facilitates this assembly. Once actuator 34 is coaxially positioned within cylinder24, the initial pre-compression of spring 28 may be released. The. innermost coil of spring 28 surrounds spring-locating bosses 36, to both retain the spring from slipping out of chamber 26 and to prevent the split inner end of cylinder 24 from spreading apart durventional interior door 92 includes a pair of opposed faces 94 and a latching edge 96. As is conventional, a through hole 98 is bored through the door between faces 94, and blind hole 100 is bored into door edge 96 to intersect through hole 98.

The first step of assembly is to insert latch assembly 18 into blind hole 100. It will be understood that actuator 34, though flexible enough for wind up operation, is stiff enough to find its proper place in hole 98 as the latch assembly is inserted properly into blind bore 100. Hence, the headed end 44 of the actuator 34, so properly placed, will be received in the bores or barrels of spindles 60 of the rotor means, because of side slots 57a, and the slots 50 of guide cylinder 24 will receive side parts 54 of walls 52 of sleeves l4 and 16 of the rotor means during the next step of assembly now to be described, for the desired interlocks. Sleeves 14, 16 are then inserted from the opposite sides of through hole 98, with the angular position of the sleeves and the depth of latch assembly 18 being arranged so that finger 54 of the sleeves will enter slot 48 of guide cylinder 24, and so that sleeve walls 52 will enter top and bottom slots 50 of guide cylinder 24. The interengagement of these elements, best shown in FIG. 6, serves several functions; It assures the proper depth of latch assembly 18 within blind hole 100 and maintains such depth. lt also assures the proper angular orientation of latch assembly 18 within blind hole 100, so that bevelled latch tip 38 will reciprocate in the proper plane. Placement of finger 54 in slot 48 assures that slot 48 will not collapse and cause latch actuator 34 to bind. Furthermore,

the interengagement of these elements assures the proper angular orientation of sleeves 14, 16 in through hole 98 of the door, so that they will be properly aligned with each other for assembly with screws 20.

The use of two diametrically opposed screws 20 for clamping sleeves 14, 16 together is highly desirable, to assure that the inner ends of the sleeves abut each other without cocking sothat bores 58 are in proper axial alignment to receive spindles 60 of knob l0, 12.

It is important that the inner ends of sleeves abut each other because of the carefully controlled axial length of the assembly, which is designed to cause the inner ends of spindle 60 to abut each other while retaining 0.0300.040 of axial play of the assembled knobs relative to the sleeves. This assures that the knobs will rotate freely without rubbing or binding upon the outer faces of the sleeves or the door faces 94.

The next step of the assembly is to insert spindle 60 of the knobs into bores 58 of the sleeves, while angularly positioning the knobs so that pins 88 will align with and enter pin holes of the opposing knob spindle. As the inner ends of the knob spindles meet, the transverse slot 86 in each spindle will slide over and grip the enlarged inner end 44 of latch actuator 34, as shown in FIG. 4.

The assembly is comleted by inserting knob screw 22 into deeply recessed clearance hole 82 and through clearance hole 46 in end 44 of latch actuator 34 and into threaded hole 84 of knob 12. Tightening of screw 22 draws the two knobs tightly together for simultaneous rotation through connecting pins 88. Rotation of the knobs causes rotation of the inner end 44 of latch actuator 34, which in turn partially winds strap portion 42 around spindles 60 to retract latch tip 38 to its withdrawn released position, as will be seen by a comparison of FIGS. 4 and 5.

The flexibility of the strap portion 42 of latch actuator 34 not only permits it to be wound during rotation of one of the knobs, but also permits it to buckle in compression without rotating the knobs when latch tip 38 is cammed inwardly upon engagement with the latch keeper as the door closes.

Privacy lock 78 is actuated by simply sliding it axially inward with the thumb, causing tip 76 to enter hole 74 in sleeve 14, as shown by FIGS. 2 and 6. This secures both knobs against rotation. The lock is released simply by pulling backward on lock 78 with the thumb.

A significant advantage of the present assembly is that only three screws are required, and all of them are concealed from view yet readily accessible.

As described above, the number of parts has been reduced substantiallyin the latch set of the present invention, and the use of molded plastic for most of the parts entirely eliminates the need for any machining operations. This reduction is a result of the simplified mechanism for converting knob rotation to latch retraction, and of the combining of normally separate elements into unitary parts. At installation into a door, the workman need only handle two knobs, two sleeves, a latch assembly and three screws. The only metal parts required are the spring, threee screws and two pins, and these are all readily available standard components. Thus, the cost of manufacture as well as the time and cost of assembly are substantially reduced.

This invention may be further developed within the scope of the following claims. Accordingly, the above specification is to be interpreted as illustrative of only a single operative embodiment of this invention, rather than in a strictly limited sense.

I now claim:

1. In a manually operated door latch set;

a manually rotatable rotor means for retracting a latch and formed and mounted for latch retracting manual rotation in either of two opposite directions from its normal latching position;

a latch sub-assembly formed as a complete subassembly with all parts thereof having formations for mutually cooperating with one another to hold one another together to form such subassembly;

with said parts comprising:

a guide;

a compression spring means contained within said guide and operable to normally maintain said rotor means and latch in their normal latching positions; and

a latch actuator also in said guide and having on an outer end a latch and an abutment for said spring means, and having on its inner end a connection formation for connecting the actuator to the rotor means, whereby rotation of such rotor means in either of said two directions causes the actuator to be pulled into latch retracted position;

with the actuator being flexible enough so that as it is pulled for latch retraction it can flex and be wound upon the rotor means;

the location and formation of the connection between the actuator and the rotor means being at that part of the rotor means nearest the latch when the rotor means and the actuator and latch are in their normal latching position, whereby rotation of the rotor means in either direction directly and immediately causes winding up of the actuator and retraction of the latch;

said rotor means also having a connection formation;

with said connection formation being male and female members formed on the actuator and rotor, respectively, said female member opening in a direction parallel to the axis of rotation of said rotor and receiving said male member so as to enable coupling, gripping and holding of the actuator and rotor with each other directly and automatically, merely upon complete insertion of the actuator and rotor, in proper sequence in their respective locations in a door, at right angles to each other;

with the actuator being rigid enough at the time the latch subassembly is inserted into the bore to enable the actuator to maintain its rigidity and stability sufficient to insure the connection formation of the actuator finding and maintaining its proper location in the rotor means receiving hole for automatic connection cooperation of the actuator connection formation and the connection formation of the rotor means when the rotor means is inserted in the rotor means receiving hole.

2. In a door latch set according to claim I, the improved actuator comprising a one-piece flexible strap having the latch and spring means abutment formed integrally on one end of the strap, and the connection formation also formed integrally on the other end of the strap; with the strap portion between such formations being flexible for winding up.

3. In a door latch set according to claim 1, a unitary self-contained subassembly assemblable as a complete unit with respect to the manually rotatable rotor means; said subassembly comprising a sleeve as said guide, the spring means and actuator therein; with he latch projecting out of one end of the guide and the connection formation of the actuator projecting out of the other end of the guide;

said subassembly being insertable as a unit into a normally provided bore of a door edge, with the connection formation being the leading part of the subassembly during its insertion into said blind bore.

4. In a door latch set according to claim 3, the improved actuator comprising a one-piece flexible strap having the latch and spring means abutment formed integrally on one end of the strap, and the connection formation also formed integrally on the other end of the strap; with the strap portion between such formations being flexible for winding up.

5. For use with a door having the conventional edgeopening blind bore and face opening hole intersecting it: an improved latch assembly for the blind bore and rotor means for the face opening hole, which comprises:

a rotor means formed to be insertable into the face opening hole and having an exposed manually accessible outer part and an inner part;

and a latch subassembly formed as a complete and unitary subassembly to be insertable as a complete subassembly into said blind bore, with said latch subassembly comprising three parts, namely, a sleeve-like guide having restricted openings at its inner and outer ends, a compression spring means, and an elongated substantially rigid and alignment holding and stable latch actuator therein, and with all three parts so formed and located relatively as to be mutually holding for forming the complete and unitary subassembly;

the actuator having at its outer end a latch projecting through and out of the outer opening of the guide and having at its inner end a connection formation projecting through and out of the inner end opening of the guide, and also having a flexible windable portion between its ends and with the latch having a spring means abutting and abutted portions;

said rotor means having on its inner portion a holding and gripping and coupling formation located at that part of the rotor means directly in line with and nearest the axis of insertion of the actuator in the bore for cooperating directly with the inner end connection formation of the actuator and formed for coupling automatically to and gripping and holding such connection formation firmly and for operatively relatively connecting said rotor means and actuator as a result of nothing more than relative movement in a predetermined assembly sequence of the subassembly and rotor means along the bore and the hole axes respectively for mutual coupling automatically and mutual holding of the latch subassembly and particularly the actuator in the blind bore, ad for enabling manual rotation of I the rotor means to exert a winding pull on the actuator for latch retraction and for spring compression by flexing the flexible part of the actuator; and for enabling release of the rotor means to permit the spring means to expand for latch extension and to cause return unwind of the actuator; with said connection formation being male and female members formed on the actuator and rotor, respectively, said female member opening in a direction parallel to the axis of rotation of said rotor and receiving said male member;

the actuator being rigid enough at the time the latch subassembly is inserted into the bore to enable the actuator to maintain its rigidity and stability sufficient to insure the connection formation of the actuator finding and maintaining its proper location in the rotor means receiving hole for automatic connection cooperation of the actuator connection formation and the connection formation of the rotor means when the rotor means is inserted in the rotor means receiving hole.

6. The latch assembly of claim 5, wherein the rotor means is so formed and mounted that it can be freely rotated manually for latch retraction in either of two opposite directions from normal, with the actuator and the connection and holding formations being so formed and located that wind pull on the actuator will be exercised at once as the rotor means is rotated manually in either direction.

7. The latch assembly of claim 5, wherein the actuator is of one molded plastic piece having the central flexible part, and with the two end portions thereof being enlarged, relatively inelastic, integral parts of the actuator.

8. An improved latch assembly and rotor means according to claim 5, wherein the actuator, though flexible, is rigid enough and non-limp enough to maintain itself in stable condition during assembly of the latch assembly and the rotor means even though assembly insertion is exercised in a horizontal direction, whereby the inner end of the actuator will position itself properly with respect to a rotor means later to be inserted into the face hole for mutual cooperation and holding with said rotor means.

9. An improved latch assembly and rotor means according to claim 7, wherein the actuator is of one piece having the central flexible part, and with the two end portions thereof being enlarged, relatively inelastic, integral parts of the actuator, and wherein the improved actuator, though flexible, is rigid enough and non-limp enough to maintain itself in stable condition during assembly of the latch assembly and the rotor means, even though assembly insertion is exercised in a horizontal direction, whereby the inner end of the actuator will position itself properly with respect to a rotor means later to be inserted into the face hole for mutual cooperation and holding with said rotor means.

10. For use with a door having an edge-opening blind bore and a-faceopening hole intersecting the bore, an improved latch set comprising:

a rotor means formed for insertion into the faceopening hole and having a manually accessible outer part and an inner part;

and a three-piece latch sub-assembly formed as a complete subassembly with all parts thereof having formations for mutually cooperating with one another to hold one another together to form such subassembly;

and to be insertable as a complete subassembly into the blind bore and comprising:

said latch actuator also having a connection formation formed integrally at its inner end and a flexible intermediate portion between said latch and said connection formation;

said latch actuator being rigid enough and stable enough to maintain its normal position during insertion of the subassembly into the blind bore to insure said connection formation of said latch actuator being normally maintained in stable position substantially on the longitudinal axis of said guide, even during axial insertion of the latch subassembly into the bore in a horizontal position, thereby to assure proper alignment of said connection formation with said rotor means at the intersection of the door bore and door hole during final assembly;

, said rotor means having on its inner portion a holding and gripping and coupling formation located at that part of the rotor means nearest and in line with the axis of insertion of the actuator in the bore and so formed that it automatically and directly provides a gripping and coupling connection to said connection formation of said latch subassembly upon insertion of said rotor means and latch subassembly in proper sequence into the hole and bore, respectively, said coupling and gripping connection enabling rotation of the rotor means from its normal latching position to exert a latch retracting pull on said latch actuator, against the force of said spring means, with the flexible portion of said latch actuator winding upon said rotor means during such retraction and with the inner end of the actuator gripped and held and coupled by the rotor means holding formation;

with said connection formation being male and female members formed on the actuator and rotor, respectively, said female member opening in a direction parallel to the axis of rotation of said rotor and receiving said male member;

with the actuator being rigid enough at the time the latch subassembly is inserted into the bore to enable the actuator to maintain its rigidity and stability sufficient to insure the connection formation of the acutator finding and maintaining its proper location in the rotor means receiving hole for automatic connection cooperation of the actuator connection formation and the connection formation of the rotor means when the rotor means is inserted in the rotor means receiving hole.

11. The latch set of claim 10, whrein the rotor means is so formed and mounted that it can be freely rotated in either of two opposite directions from its normal latched position to produce latch retraction.

12. The latch set of claim 11, wherein the location and formation of the connection between said latch actuator and said rotor means are such that a winding pull on said latch actuator will be induced immediately upon initial rotation of said rotor means in either direction from its normal latching position.

13. The latch assembly of claim 10, wherein the actuator is of one molded plastic piece having the central flexible part, and with the two end portions thereof being enlarged, relatively inelastic, integral parts of the actuator.

14. A door latch set according to claim 1, wherein the connection formations of the actuator and rotor means are formed for interlocking the actuator and rotor means relatively, automatically, upon their relative assembly.

15. A door latch set according to claim 14, wherein said connection formations are so formed that assembly is effected and completed by insertion of the rotor means in its door hole after insertion of the latch assembly in its door bore.

16. A door latch set according to claim 5, wherein the connection formations of the actuator and rotor means are formed for interlocking the actuator and rotor means relatively, automatically, upon their relative assembly.

17. A door latch set according to claim 10, wherein the connection formations of the actuator and rotor means are formed for interlocking the actuator and rotor means relatively, automatically, upon their rela tive assembly. 

1. In a manually operated door latch set; a manually rotatable rotor means for retracting a latch and formed and mounted for latch retracting manual rotation in either of two opposite directions from its normal latching position; a latch sub-assembly formed as a complete sub-assembly with all parts thereof having formations for mutually cooperating with one another to hold one another together to form such subassembly; with said parts comprising: a guide; a compression spring means contained within said guide and operable to normally maintain said rotor means and latch in their normal latching positions; and a latch actuator also in said guide and having on an outer end a latch and an abutment for said spring means, and having on its inner end a connection formation for connecting the actuator to the rotor means, whereby rotation of such rotor means in either of said two directions causes the actuator to be pulled into latch retracted position; with the actuator being flexible enough so that as it is pulled for latch retraction it can flex and be wound upon the rotor means; the location and formation of the connection between the actuator and the rotor means being at that part of the rotor means nearest the latch when the rotor means and thE actuator and latch are in their normal latching position, whereby rotation of the rotor means in either direction directly and immediately causes winding up of the actuator and retraction of the latch; said rotor means also having a connection formation; with said connection formation being male and female members formed on the actuator and rotor, respectively, said female member opening in a direction parallel to the axis of rotation of said rotor and receiving said male member so as to enable coupling, gripping and holding of the actuator and rotor with each other directly and automatically, merely upon complete insertion of the actuator and rotor, in proper sequence in their respective locations in a door, at right angles to each other; with the actuator being rigid enough at the time the latch subassembly is inserted into the bore to enable the actuator to maintain its rigidity and stability sufficient to insure the connection formation of the actuator finding and maintaining its proper location in the rotor means receiving hole for automatic connection cooperation of the actuator connection formation and the connection formation of the rotor means when the rotor means is inserted in the rotor means receiving hole.
 2. In a door latch set according to claim 1, the improved actuator comprising a one-piece flexible strap having the latch and spring means abutment formed integrally on one end of the strap, and the connection formation also formed integrally on the other end of the strap; with the strap portion between such formations being flexible for winding up.
 3. In a door latch set according to claim 1, a unitary self-contained subassembly assemblable as a complete unit with respect to the manually rotatable rotor means; said subassembly comprising a sleeve as said guide, the spring means and actuator therein; with he latch projecting out of one end of the guide and the connection formation of the actuator projecting out of the other end of the guide; said subassembly being insertable as a unit into a normally provided bore of a door edge, with the connection formation being the leading part of the subassembly during its insertion into said blind bore.
 4. In a door latch set according to claim 3, the improved actuator comprising a one-piece flexible strap having the latch and spring means abutment formed integrally on one end of the strap, and the connection formation also formed integrally on the other end of the strap; with the strap portion between such formations being flexible for winding up.
 5. For use with a door having the conventional edge-opening blind bore and face opening hole intersecting it: an improved latch assembly for the blind bore and rotor means for the face opening hole, which comprises: a rotor means formed to be insertable into the face opening hole and having an exposed manually accessible outer part and an inner part; and a latch subassembly formed as a complete and unitary subassembly to be insertable as a complete subassembly into said blind bore, with said latch subassembly comprising three parts, namely, a sleeve-like guide having restricted openings at its inner and outer ends, a compression spring means, and an elongated substantially rigid and alignment holding and stable latch actuator therein, and with all three parts so formed and located relatively as to be mutually holding for forming the complete and unitary subassembly; the actuator having at its outer end a latch projecting through and out of the outer opening of the guide and having at its inner end a connection formation projecting through and out of the inner end opening of the guide, and also having a flexible windable portion between its ends and with the latch having a spring means abutting and abutted portions; said rotor means having on its inner portion a holding and gripping and coupling formation located at that part of the rotor means directly in line with and nearest the axis of insertion of the actuator in the bore for Cooperating directly with the inner end connection formation of the actuator and formed for coupling automatically to and gripping and holding such connection formation firmly and for operatively relatively connecting said rotor means and actuator as a result of nothing more than relative movement in a predetermined assembly sequence of the subassembly and rotor means along the bore and the hole axes respectively for mutual coupling automatically and mutual holding of the latch subassembly and particularly the actuator in the blind bore, ad for enabling manual rotation of the rotor means to exert a winding pull on the actuator for latch retraction and for spring compression by flexing the flexible part of the actuator; and for enabling release of the rotor means to permit the spring means to expand for latch extension and to cause return unwind of the actuator; with said connection formation being male and female members formed on the actuator and rotor, respectively, said female member opening in a direction parallel to the axis of rotation of said rotor and receiving said male member; the actuator being rigid enough at the time the latch subassembly is inserted into the bore to enable the actuator to maintain its rigidity and stability sufficient to insure the connection formation of the actuator finding and maintaining its proper location in the rotor means receiving hole for automatic connection cooperation of the actuator connection formation and the connection formation of the rotor means when the rotor means is inserted in the rotor means receiving hole.
 6. The latch assembly of claim 5, wherein the rotor means is so formed and mounted that it can be freely rotated manually for latch retraction in either of two opposite directions from normal, with the actuator and the connection and holding formations being so formed and located that wind pull on the actuator will be exercised at once as the rotor means is rotated manually in either direction.
 7. The latch assembly of claim 5, wherein the actuator is of one molded plastic piece having the central flexible part, and with the two end portions thereof being enlarged, relatively inelastic, integral parts of the actuator.
 8. An improved latch assembly and rotor means according to claim 5, wherein the actuator, though flexible, is rigid enough and non-limp enough to maintain itself in stable condition during assembly of the latch assembly and the rotor means even though assembly insertion is exercised in a horizontal direction, whereby the inner end of the actuator will position itself properly with respect to a rotor means later to be inserted into the face hole for mutual cooperation and holding with said rotor means.
 9. An improved latch assembly and rotor means according to claim 7, wherein the actuator is of one piece having the central flexible part, and with the two end portions thereof being enlarged, relatively inelastic, integral parts of the actuator, and wherein the improved actuator, though flexible, is rigid enough and non-limp enough to maintain itself in stable condition during assembly of the latch assembly and the rotor means, even though assembly insertion is exercised in a horizontal direction, whereby the inner end of the actuator will position itself properly with respect to a rotor means later to be inserted into the face hole for mutual cooperation and holding with said rotor means.
 10. For use with a door having an edge-opening blind bore and a face-opening hole intersecting the bore, an improved latch set comprising: a rotor means formed for insertion into the face-opening hole and having a manually accessible outer part and an inner part; and a three-piece latch sub-assembly formed as a complete subassembly with all parts thereof having formations for mutually cooperating with one another to hold one another together to form such subassembly; and to be insertable as a complete subassembly into the blind bore and comprising: a one-piece sleeve-like guide, an elongated one-piece latch actuator mounted for axial movement within said guide, and a compression spring means retained within said guide; said latch actuator having a latch formed integrally on its outer end and normally projecting out of a restricted opening in the outer end of said guide, and also having an enlarged spring abuttment portion adjacent the latch and positioned axially inwardly of said restricted opening and providing a bearing surface against which said spring means acts to bias said latch actuator axially outwardly to its normal latching position; said latch actuator also having a connection formation formed integrally at its inner end and a flexible intermediate portion between said latch and said connection formation; said latch actuator being rigid enough and stable enough to maintain its normal position during insertion of the subassembly into the blind bore to insure said connection formation of said latch actuator being normally maintained in stable position substantially on the longitudinal axis of said guide, even during axial insertion of the latch subassembly into the bore in a horizontal position, thereby to assure proper alignment of said connection formation with said rotor means at the intersection of the door bore and door hole during final assembly; said rotor means having on its inner portion a holding and gripping and coupling formation located at that part of the rotor means nearest and in line with the axis of insertion of the actuator in the bore and so formed that it automatically and directly provides a gripping and coupling connection to said connection formation of said latch subassembly upon insertion of said rotor means and latch subassembly in proper sequence into the hole and bore, respectively, said coupling and gripping connection enabling rotation of the rotor means from its normal latching position to exert a latch retracting pull on said latch actuator, against the force of said spring means, with the flexible portion of said latch actuator winding upon said rotor means during such retraction and with the inner end of the actuator gripped and held and coupled by the rotor means holding formation; with said connection formation being male and female members formed on the actuator and rotor, respectively, said female member opening in a direction parallel to the axis of rotation of said rotor and receiving said male member; with the actuator being rigid enough at the time the latch subassembly is inserted into the bore to enable the actuator to maintain its rigidity and stability sufficient to insure the connection formation of the acutator finding and maintaining its proper location in the rotor means receiving hole for automatic connection cooperation of the actuator connection formation and the connection formation of the rotor means when the rotor means is inserted in the rotor means receiving hole.
 11. The latch set of claim 10, whrein the rotor means is so formed and mounted that it can be freely rotated in either of two opposite directions from its normal latched position to produce latch retraction.
 12. The latch set of claim 11, wherein the location and formation of the connection between said latch actuator and said rotor means are such that a winding pull on said latch actuator will be induced immediately upon initial rotation of said rotor means in either direction from its normal latching position.
 13. The latch assembly of claim 10, wherein the actuator is of one molded plastic piece having the central flexible part, and with the two end portions thereof being enlarged, relatively inelastic, integral parts of the actuator.
 14. A door latch set according to claim 1, wherein the connection formations of the actuator and rotor means are formed for interlocking the actuator and rotor means relatively, automatically, upon their relative assembly.
 15. A door latch set according to claim 14, wherein said connection formations are so formed that assembly is effected and complEted by insertion of the rotor means in its door hole after insertion of the latch assembly in its door bore.
 16. A door latch set according to claim 5, wherein the connection formations of the actuator and rotor means are formed for interlocking the actuator and rotor means relatively, automatically, upon their relative assembly.
 17. A door latch set according to claim 10, wherein the connection formations of the actuator and rotor means are formed for interlocking the actuator and rotor means relatively, automatically, upon their relative assembly. 